Slightly late with this news, but EE have recently announced another mammoth batch of releases to keep us all busy well into summer. First up is Lost Soul’s debut album, Human Being – I’m really a fan of Dark Angel and Bad Influence, but wasn’t too keen on Nightmare or his London Helsinki Underground remix, so I was wondering which Lost Soul would make an appearance here. The answer, as it turns out, is neither. At least from the samples I’ve heard, there’s a bigger trancecore/hard trance influence than was apparent in the older tracks, and it really sounds promising. Three cheers also for the nutty amens on What The…(Intro), which brought back some fond memories…good old jungle, eh? Finally, I’m sure you’ll agree that the cover artwork is fantastic, as it is on Firefly’s new release. Which leads us nicely on to….
Omega Point, Firefly’s new 2 CD album. Firefly is one of those artists whose work I often enjoy, but always seems to be this close to releasing a tune that fits into one of my mixes, and so I don’t listen to as much of his stuff as I no doubt should. Anyway, prior to giving the samples a listen I was all set for some more extremely listenable trancecore, but sub my bass, most of the first CD is DnB! Although most of them are harder liquid-style tunes slightly reminiscent of Calibre and his ilk, there are a couple of relatively chilled rollers (the opening tune Lampstand, for example) that really caught my attention. Going on the preview, utter madness awaits in Broken Emerald, a tune that somehow manages to fit in wobblestep, both relaxed/ 1992-era old-skool piano chords, and hard trance melodies with a thumping kick (!) – but comes through the ordeal sounding pretty cool, I have to say. The second mixed CD is sure to be worth checking out too, and the stupendous Dangerous makes another appearance here as the intro track. This entire release, then, is a good example of how freeform really can be ‘free’ – you might not love every single track, but massive respect to Firefly for branching out into new territory.
Other releases include Digital Beats – The Complete Works, a great compilation for the more UK-centred freeform heads out there, and the long-awaited release of the Movement 2004 compilation. Spanning 3 CDs, the set covers Alek Szahala, Carbon Based and Re-form – and the tracklists remain pretty tasty (Alek’s set in particular looks insane).